What does a men’s march against violence against women look like? What kind of actions are organisations across Europe taking to engage men and boys in building gender equality? We find out in this special episode of Now and Men, recorded in Seville at a demonstration against gender-based violence, which takes place every year on 21st October in cities across Spain. To coincide with this, a MenEngage Europe members’ meeting was also happening in Seville, so we spoke to participants from several different European countries about their experience of the demonstration, the work they do, and why it’s so important for men to transform harmful ideas of masculinity and take action against patriarchal violence.

We talk to:

• Miguel Lázaro - Vice-President of Masculinidades Beta in Spain - https://masculinidadesbeta.org, and member of MenEngage Iberia - https://twitter.com/menengageiberia
• Anna Lindqvist - Director of MÄN in Sweden - https://mfj.se/en
• Colm Kelly Ryan - Head of Programmes at the Men's Development Network in Ireland - https://mensnetwork.ie (Colm has written a report of the demonstration and MenEngage meeting here: https://mensnetwork.ie/menengage/)
• Joni van de Sand – Global Co-Director of the MenEngage Alliance - http://menengage.org

The demonstration was covered (in Spanish) by RTVE, the Spanish public broadcasting service, here: https://www.rtve.es/play/videos/telediario-2/manifestacion-sevilla-bajo-lema-hombres-igualdad/6148239/.

You can join the MenEngage Europe Facebook Page at: https://www.facebook.com/MenEngageEurope

Sandy, Stephen and other colleagues have co-authored a book, ‘Men’s Activism to End Violence Against Women: Voices from Spain, Sweden and the UK’ (Policy Press, 2021), which is available to buy or to read for free as an e-book here: https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/mens-activism-to-end-violence-against-women

Please note that because the podcast was recorded whilst we were at the demonstration, the sound quality is not always perfect, for which we apologise!

Thank you to Shkodran Latifi (from SIT, Kosovo - https://sit-ks.org) for the photo.

If you have been affected by sexual violence, information and support is available from Rape Crisis: https://rapecrisis.org.uk/get-help/. Rape Crisis European Network: https://www.rcne.com/contact/countries/

Contact the UK National Domestic Abuse Helpline: https://www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk/